The fight to bring a legend home. WNBA star Brittney Griner has been in Russian custody since February 2022, and plenty of her fellow athletes are leading the charge to get her back to the United States.
Ahead of Game 2 of the NBA Finals in June 2022, the Boston Celtics wore T-shirts reading “WE ARE BG” during practice. “The shirts were super important not only showing our support for our sister that is detained over in Russia, Brittney Griner, we just wanted to show that togetherness and love that we have throughout not only the NBA but the WNBA,” player Grant Williams told ESPN of the team’s decision to wear the shirts. “She’s been a vital part of the WNBA over years past, college and in the amount of impact she’s had on young female athletes, USA and overseas.”
LeBron James also called for swifter action on the Olympic gold medalist’s case, sharing a social media post from his Uninterrupted platform encouraging President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to keep pushing for Griner’s return.
“We need to come together and help do whatever we possibly can to bring BG home quickly and safely!!” the Space Jam: A New Legacy star tweeted in June 2022. “Our voice as athletes is stronger together.”
Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February 2022 while she was in the country playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA off-season. Russian authorities claimed that the athlete was carrying hashish oil in her luggage. News of her arrest and subsequent detention, however, did not emerge for several weeks.
U.S. officials were initially hesitant to make any aggressive moves on behalf of Griner because of Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine, but in May 2022, the State Department declared that the Phoenix Mercury player had been “wrongfully detained.” This status change meant that officials could immediately begin negotiating for her release rather than waiting until her next Russian court hearing.
That same month, Griner’s detention was extended until at least mid-June 2022. In the meantime, the Texas native has been communicating with her friends and family via letters. “She jokes in her letters. I don’t know how she does it with what she’s going through,” Amanda Zahui B., a player for the Los Angeles Sparks, told the Associated Press of keeping in touch with her colleague. “She’s an amazing soul. She brings light in a situation like this. I don’t think a lot of people could manage to do that.”
The ESPY winner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, has also been offering her support from afar, speaking to U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken about the case. “You say she’s top priority, but I wanna see it, and I feel like to see it would be me seeing BG on U.S. soil,” Cherelle told Good Morning America in May 2022.
The Baylor University alum added that her wife was only playing in Russia because WNBA salaries are not lucrative enough to support their family. It is common for many WNBA players to go overseas in the off-season to supplement their income.
“BG would wholeheartedly love to not go overseas,” Cherelle explained. “She has only had one Thanksgiving in the States in nine years since she’s been pro, and she misses all that stuff. Just because, you know, she can’t make enough money in the WNBA, like, to sustain her life.”
Keep scrolling for more details on Brittney’s case:
Brittney is a very successful WNBA star who has played for the Phoenix Mercury since 2013. Prior to going pro, she made history as a college basketball player at Baylor University, setting the all-time single-season record for blocked shots in her freshman year. Since 2014, she has played for Russia's UMMC Ekaterinburg women's basketball team during the WNBA's off-season. Richard Ellis/UPI/Shutterstock
Russian authorities arrested Brittney on February 17, 2022, after claiming she was caught with hash oil cartridges in her luggage while going through security at the Moscow airport. Customs officials for the country said that they had opened a criminal case into the "large-scale transportation of drugs," which can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison in Russia. After news of her detention broke on March 5, 2022, some observers connected her detention to Russia's history of holding U.S. citizens as political prisoners. "This follows a pattern of Russia wrongly detaining & imprisoning US citizens, including Trevor Reed," Texas Representative Joaquin Castro tweeted at the time. "US citizens are not political pawns. Brittney, Trevor, and other Americans must be safely returned." (Reed is a former Marine who had been detained in Russia since 2019; he was returned home in April 2022.) Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/Shutterstock
In May 2022, the U.S. State Department changed course and declared that Brittney had been "wrongfully detained" by Russia. As a result, Roger Carstens, who is the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, began immediately working to negotiate her release. Her wife, Cherelle, later had a phone call with Blinken to discuss the specifics of the situation. Meanwhile, the WNBA granted the Phoenix Mercury salary cap and roster relief so that Brittney would receive her full salary for the season without it counting against the team's limit. All WNBA courts also have a decal bearing Brittney's initials and jersey number. DPPI/Ann-dee Lamour/LiveMedia/Shutterstock
Brittney's WNBA teammates have been some of the most outspoken stars, wearing shirts and pins in tribute to their colleague and calling for her release on social media and at press conferences. The NBA has also gotten involved, with commissioner Adam Silver saying that the league is actively working with the U.S. government to "expedite" Brittney's return. "It's been now over a hundred days since she's been illegally held in Russia," Silver said in June 2022. "I think it's something that all of us should be heard on, contacting your representatives and others. I will only say we are working in lockstep with the U.S. government and outside experts on trying to expedite her release in any way we can." Broadimage/Shutterstock
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